


Old Friends

by Jen425



Series: Influences [6]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rise of Empire Era - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: "Anakin's awkward inability to say hi", (so far there are 3, Anakin Skywalker Needs a Hug, Gen, Layers upon layers of fix-it, and "How many poly ships are even in this mess?", honestky the two alternate names for this series could be, with a possible fture 4th)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-25
Updated: 2018-07-25
Packaged: 2019-06-11 15:24:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15318438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jen425/pseuds/Jen425
Summary: Anakin sees Rex and Ahsoka again.





	Old Friends

**Author's Note:**

> “Why oh why has this AU basically become the land of multiships?” I ask as I tag.
> 
> But that’s backround.
> 
> Anyways, enjoy!

Anakin does a double-take at the familiar presence, even as faint as it’s non-Force-Sensitive self is. The things he’s wearing is more crappy than even the kriffing Vader suit itself, but he doesn’t want it getting back to Sidious when Darth Vader is supposed to be on Mustafar before being sent here to crush rebellion in a week.

 

He really was only there to get supplies for the Jedi he had hidden on Mustafar and leak a couple of tips to the local rebels  _ before _ Vader was sent here, but, honestly, his life has never been that simple.

 

“Rex?” he asks, making his way up to the man and grateful that this vocoder is closer to his voice than Vader’s had been. (And he’s not stupid enough to think the separation was accidental, either. Sidious has power over Darth Vader that he doesn’t over Anakin Skywalker, especially not now.) The man turns around, and, well, Rex’s presence and a brother’s face.

 

“Who are you?” his Captain asks. Anakin smiles, even despite the pain and the vocoder.

 

“Surely you recognize me,” he says, “Even with a couple more scars.”

 

“...Sir?” Rex asks hesitantly, “General Skywalker?”

 

Anakin feels his smile twist.

 

“Actually, it’s Lord Vader, now,” he says, “I… I really kriffed up this one, Rex.”

 

Rex stares at him.

 

“I hope you have an explanation for why Anakin Skywalker is officially dead and Darth Vader is the Emperor’s attack dog.”

 

Anakin just shakes his head.

 

“Like I said, I kriffed up,” he says before sighing. “Well, I’ve already got the stuff that I need, so do you want an explanation or to help me find the local rebels before Vader’s sent here to kill them, first?”

 

Rex sighs.

 

“I think I’d like an explanation,” he says, “For whatever nonsense you’ve gotten us into this time, General.”

 

Anakin just sighs.

 

“My ship’s parked just about two streets away,” he says, “We can go and talk there.”

  
  
  


Anakin finishes telling the story, and silence fills the room. Then Rex chuckles, shaking his head.

 

“Only you, sir,” he says, “Although, to be fair, I doubt ‘Soka would react much better to losing me or Ventress, especially if it was anywhere near…”

 

Barriss Offee. Right.

 

And Venress.

 

Which, okay, that was a thought that he’s been ignoring since his Fall. Mostly out of pertinence, but partly just because it was too weird to think about on top of everything else.

 

“So she’s safe?” he asks. “I can’t risk Vader publicly searching for her, especially because looking into officially dead Jedi could risk the kids I managed to rescue, and Artoo hasn’t been in contact with her, to my knowledge.”

 

Rex sighs.

 

“We split up,” he says, “For safety, but… well, you’d know better than me if she’s even alive, sir.”

 

“She is,” Anakin says, “But that’s all I know… I don’t think I’ve told this to anyone else,” there was no one else left he could contact and trust, “But… I miss them, and I’m an idiot who figured things out far too late for it to be worth anything, but it’s…”

 

He sighs.

 

“I guess That’s it.”

  
  
  


Rex is still on-planet when Vader is sent. Of course. Rex was captain of the 501st for a reason. (Stupid military set up. Still, everyone knew Rex was his second-in-command even over the commanders, even if it confused some of the shinies and Jedi.)

 

He’s pretty sure that the man is the only reason he isn’t force to wipe out the forces still in the base.

 

And so, when the rebels get away, he smiles.

 

Someday, things will be okay.

  
  
  


Rex shows up with Artoo on Mustafar two years later, in the hidden entrance not surrounded by the cameras that only Artoo and the Jedi he has hidden in the corridor past it.

 

Ahsoka’s with him.

 

And, well, Anakin really doesn’t want anyone close to him in this hellhole, but he’s missed her.

 

Naturally, the first thing that comes to his mouth is utter stupidity.

 

“You should be taller than me,” he says, and Ahsoka laughs.

 

“Of course,” she says, “But there’s too much of that in our line already.”

 

Anakin laughs too, hating how it hurts and the way it sounds through Vader’s vocoder.

 

“I suppose so.”

 

Silence fills the room once more.

 

“I’m sorry I left you,” Ahsoka says, “I left all of you, and… it was so soon after…”

 

Anakin sighs.

 

“I will never blame you, Ahsoka,” Anakin says, feeling himself slip into the Vader persona because he doesn’t think he’s strong enough right now to talk to her fully open, and Master Skywalker is too much of a lie for her to believe. “Perhaps I did, for a time, but… of the two of us, you were definitely the more intelligent.”

 

Ahsoka sighs.

 

“Master…” she says. Anakin just shrugs, a more honest gesture than any other part of this conversation.

 

“You cannot change the past,” he says, “And I have accepted my choices.”

 

That’s a bold-faced lie. Tentatively, Anakin reopens his bond with Ahsoka just the slightest, sending warmth down it to hide the truth.

 

“Now,” he says, “I do not believe that I was the  _ only _ reason you came here.”

 

Ahsoka smiles.

 

“I guess not,” she says.

 

And, together, they make their way inside the hidden part of Vader’s palace. (His cage, if Anakin wants to be real.)

 

The look on their faces when they enter is wonderful.

 

(If you ignore the men out of their armor and the barely-held-back Darkness, it would feel like they were all back before the Empire rose.

 

Sad, it used to be “back before the war.” Why had the war become “the good old day”?

 

Oh. Right. When the Sith rose.)

 

“Sir…” Anakin smiles even though he knows Rex won’t see.

 

“It was risky,,” he says, “And I could only do so much with the 501st with the Emperor watching. Honestly, without Master Koon I wouldn’t have even made it this far.”

 

Still, Rex is smiling, too.

 

“Don’t put yourself down, General,” he says. “You should know how much more this is than anyone you bring here had thought before.”

 

Anakin sighs.

 

“I try,” he says, “But it doesn’t undo what I’ve done.”

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on tumblr [@flaim-ita](https://flaim-ita.tumblr.com/)


End file.
